Court seeks replacement for missing county judge
For the second time this month, Butler County's court administration is requesting the state assign it a visiting judge — this time over President Judge Thomas Doerr's extended absence.
The judge, who was reportedly injured in a skiing accident, finds himself mired in a series of legal entanglements that also have affected the operation of the court system. In the accident, he reportedly suffered a torn ligament and a concussion and called off work in mid-January, a court administrator noted.
He has since been on medical leave, triggering the court's administration to seek a general assignment judge to fill in for Doerr until his return, according to Tom Holman, the deputy district court administrator.
It's unclear when, or if, the state's court administration will assign a judge to replace Doerr.
Case conflictThe first request for a visiting judge was after Judge William Shaffer declined to preside over a case involving Doerr's son.John Paul Doerr III was arrested for child pornography Jan. 16 and Shaffer was automatically assigned to preside over the case. The 31-year-old waived his preliminary hearing and was released on his own recognizance.Shaffer said overseeing the case would be a conflict of interest because it involved a colleague's relative. He directed the court administration to request that the state find an out-of-county judge. The administration is still waiting for a response.District Attorney Richard Goldinger also said he would refer the case to the state attorney general's office for prosecution.“I can't imagine any of our judges hearing that one,” Goldinger said in an earlier interview.
Full court calendarsWith both requests pending, Doerr's caseload is being distributed among the county's five remaining judges, a roster that already has one visiting judge.Court administration officials said there's no way to know how many cases each judge handles on a monthly, or even daily, basis because of the ever-changing nature of litigation.Visiting Senior Judge Kenneth Valasek was tasked with filling a seat after previous county Judge Marilyn Horan moved to federal court last year. Voters will choose a permanent replacement during the May election.Visiting judges, such as Valasek, are limited to working 10 days a month, relegating them to part-time positions.If Doerr's substitute is approved by the state, the county court will have two part-time judges and four full-time judges.Holman noted that in smaller courts similar to Butler's, caseloads are distributed evenly among the judges. But generally, each judge has their own domain.Civil matters are usually handled by Doerr and Judge S. Michael Yeager. Family and domestic issues are handled by Judge Kelley Streib and Valasek, the visiting senior judge.The workload toll could be seen, for example, on Thursday when Shaffer's usual schedule of criminal matters included many protection from abuse order hearings.Shaffer is the current acting administrator, a managerial role that the state's Supreme Court took away from Doerr in 2016 after he was sued by county probation officer Crystal Starnes regarding sexual misconduct allegations.Along with Shaffer, Judge Timothy McCune covers criminal cases. But on any given day, any judge can be assigned additional cases to fill in for Doerr's absence.Court administration officials said they didn't know when Doerr would be back.In the meantime, Doerr is still being paid as a full-time employee.Butler County judges are paid $180,229, according to the Pennsylvania code. President judges, such as Doerr, make $181,871. Senior judges are paid $558 per day.
